Hello everyone!! Today I have been in a super happy mood because it’s truly starting to feel like Spring outside! Now when I say that I mean it has been at least mid 50s for almost a week now which is finally a sign that Spring is almost in full swing here in New England! I know for many, 50s sounds freezing, but that’s basically the start of beach weather here in Massachusetts. When it comes to the start of any season, I always get a wave of nostalgia for seasons past. So with that feeling, I decided to (surprise surprise) make yet another nostalgia post! Let’s dive into some things you’ll definitely remember if you basically lived outside once the seasons started to change as a 90s/00s kid! Enjoy!
12. Four Square
I don’t know about you guys, but this game was almost as serious as Monopoly when it came to playing with my family. There are no friends, every man for himself. We use to be so strict with the rules and all of my cousins and I would basically turn against each other for the sake of winning. Talk about family competition.
11. Red Rover & Monster In The Middle
Photo by Charles Parker on Pexels.com
For those of you who don’t know what Red Rover is, basically it goes a little something like this: kids form two parallel chains by linking arms and then either one or all on one side say a chant in unison. “Red Rover, Red Rover, send (insert person’s name) over.” Then whoever’s name was called must run to the opposite side’s team and try to break through the player’s linked arms. If you ‘broke’ the chain you’d get to go back to your own team with a ‘captured’ player in addition, but if you failed to break the chain you’d have to join the opposite team. Aka it was banned at recess because too many people were getting their arms injured. As for monster in the middle, this was a big one in my school. We also called the game Big Green Monster because we were Boston kids (Fenway Park). Anyways, this one was usually played on a basketball court where everyone started on one end. One person was chosen to be the ‘monster’ and stood in the middle of the court. That person who then shout out a category chanting: “I am the Big Green Monster (or monster in the middle) and I eat anyone who (insert trait or category here).” Then anyone who matched the description had to make a mad dash for their life to the other side of the court. If you made it, you were safe, if you were tagged by the monster, you had to join the in the middle and help eat other players. The goal was to get as many people across safely as possible. This one brings back a lot of good memories!
10. Scoop Ball
Fun simple game to play with a friend! I think these things are still around, but I don’t see them too often anymore. I’m surprised honestly because the scoop made it very easy to both catch and throw the ball so it was a great game for anyone to be able to play!
9. These Bug Catchers
Real talk. Did anyone ACTUALLY ever catch anything in these things? Is it just me or were these one of those toys that everyone had and tried to use, but failed almost every time? I was lucky if I left the trap open and got an ant to crawl in. Seriously, I swear every time I took this toy out, I suddenly had all this hope that I would catch something wild and every single time I caught like a leaf.
8. One Of These Sandboxes
Sand boxes or litter boxes? The world may never know the true answer. I don’t know about you guys but after a while we weren’t really allowed to play in these bad boys anymore because local cats seemed to uh, enjoy to do their business in them. Always finding little surprises when we played!
7. Velcro Catch
Such a fun game, especially for those who weren’t that great at catching things! The only thing that kind of stunk was when the ball got too ratty over time. The velcro idea was great, but soon the fuzz on the ball would rip off or get too puffy and it either turned into a mess on the velcro or too fuzzy to throw easily. I have no idea if that description made any sense, sorry.
6. Cruisin’ Around In One Of These Bad Boys
YOU DID NOT HAVE A PROPER 90s/00s CHILDHOOD IF YOU DIDN’T OWN THIS WHIP. Especiallyyyyy in red and yellow. This was like the OG first car. You could cruise yourself around Flintstone’s style or almost lose a leg by having someone push you too fast! I never lifted my legs up high enough and would end up getting one stuck under the back of the car when someone pushed me.
5. Or The Upgraded Version
I never had one of these….. it was my DREAM. I always wanted the pink Barbie one with the built in radio and nope. I don’t think my parents trusted me honestly. I would be the wild child that would zoom off and end up in the actual street thinking I was in a real car or something. We had a mini motorcycle later on in my childhood but it just turned into a fight between my brother and cousins on who got to use it. Probably another reason why my parents never bought one of these cars for my brother and I.
4. Somehow Turning Outdoor Items Into Food With Your Toy House
First of all I had this EXACT HOUSE which is why I had to track down an image of it. I loved this thing even when it got gross and dirty over time. But one of my all time favorites games was called ‘5 Days Till Winter.’ Yes, this was a made-up game between me and my cousins, but the concept is definitely familiar with any 90s/00s kid who played with a fake house outdoors. The entire game was collecting outdoor items to prepare for the upcoming ‘winter.’ This included picking berries or during mud into soup so that we would have enough ‘food’ to survive. Basically acting as chefs turning nature into uh, ‘appetizing’ delicacies.
3. Wiffle Ball & Kickball
THE BEST SPRING AND SUMMER GAMES OF ALL TIME. I do plan on making a similar post for summer activities and I think this is a gateway into that idea. Anyone else have that one person that went way too hard in kickball and aimed only to nail you with the ball vs. just playing for fun. We 90s/00s kids were tough cookies! Made us who we are today.
2. The Basic Chalk & Bubble Wand Kits
Why were we so obsessed with giant bubble wands that had different shapes even though we knew all the bubbles would come out the same regardless? They were still fun (if you could get them to actually make a bubble without popping) don’t get me wrong, but still such an odd concept now. As for the Crayola sidewalk chalk, this stuff was the OG chalk. Literally something about 64 different colors which half came out exactly the same still made you feel like a young Picasso more so than a basic 6 pack did. Like you truly had to take the time to determine which shade would be perfect for that flower you were drawing. Also the crayon like tips made it way easier to add a little ~detail to your masterpiece.
1. Manhunt
Photo by Allan Mas on Pexels.com
By far the best game of my childhood that needed absolutely no equipment to play. All you needed to do was round up the neighborhood kids or some of your cousins/friends and wait for the sun to start to set. You could add a flashlight for a little extra fun, but the spook factor definitely came in when you played without one. Think of the game like hide and seek, but outside, with a bigger area circumference by using each others backyards instead of inside a house, in the dark, with hiders who could change locations as long as they weren’t caught while doing it, and one seeker slowly rounding everyone up. Usually we had the seekers be in pairs for basic nighttime kid safety. We literally could play for hours on end. Almost got attacked by a coyote once playing so be aware of your surroundings! You can also play during the day but it’s much easier for the hiders to move around and be sneakier at night.
Toria's Tales 